Dawood Brigade

The Dawood Brigade was a moderate Islamist militant group that fought in the Syrian Civil War. Formed in 2011 by former mason Hassan Aboud, the Dawood Brigade initially refrained from terrorism, but by late 2013 they had begun to use suicide bombings as tactics in the war, and in 2014 they joined the Islamic State group.

History
The Dawood Brigade was formed in 2011 by Iraq War veteran insurgent Hassan Aboud at the start of the Syrian Civil War, initially being just another moderate rebel group. It was small at the onset of its insurgency, but it later grew into a large and hardened formation, and in late 2013 it changed its tactics to extremism, releasing instructional videos on how to become a suicide bomber. In 2014, most of the brigade followed Aboud in joining the Islamic State extremist group, bringing with them weapons, armored vehicles, and tanks, and the Dawood Brigade merged with the army of the self-declared caliphate.